Present Day

Yuri opened up the house, letting in the breeze from the gulf.  Even on such a hot day, the breeze made it bearable.  Her back was hurting from carrying boxes up the stairs to the beach house raised up on stilts, so she took a break, going out to the deck, her eyes scanning the water, looking at what was essentially her backyard.  She was going to love it here.  Stepping off the deck for her morning run, evening walks along the beach, watching the stars at night from the deck.  Of course, there was one thing missing from that picture, but she didn’t want to go there.

Instead, she planned a nice, long weekend alone.  She’d get the house in order, set up the huge TV she bought and get the kitchen sorted out.  She’d enjoy some holiday traditions like getting the gas grill fired up on the deck, thanks to TaeYeon who insisted it came with the house.  She would grill a steak or a burger, enjoy the sand and sun, the beach.  She smiled.  Yeah, she was going to love it here.

But she still had half a trailer to unload, so she turned away from the water and went back inside.
 

“Hi.”

Yuri visibly jumped, then gasped.  “Jesus Christ,” she said, her hand holding her chest.  “What are you doing here?”

Jessica shrugged. “You said to come see you.”

"Well, it took you long enough.” Yuri moved closer, not sure if a hug was warranted or not.  She motioned at the mess in the room.  “Sorry.  I’m just moving in.”

“I know.”

“And I’ve got the AC off so it’s a little warm in here.  I was in and out so much, I didn’t see the point of having it running.”  Yuri went to the control panel on the wall and turned the AC back on.

“Yuri it’s okay.”  Jessica took a step toward her.  “I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”
 

“You mean after the reunion?”
 

“That too. I loved your gift.”

“Good.  I hoped you would.”  Yuri let a little of her hurt show.  “Of course, when I didn’t hear from you, I assumed the print meant nothing to you and – “

“It means everything to me.” Jessica reached for her, pulling her closer.  “I’m sorry,”  She said again.

Yuri went to her, her arms wrapping tight around her.  The feeling of completeness nearly overwhelmed her.  “I’m sorry too.”

Jessica pulled away from her.  “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“Yes, I do.  All these years –“

“No,” Jessica said, stopping her.  “No, that’s in the past.  It’s over and done with.”  She grabbed her hands, squeezing hard.  “Can we talk, Yuri?  Can we just talk?  Can we be honest with each other and just…talk?”

Yuri nodded.  “Okay.  I’ll start,” she said swallowing down her fear.  “I – “

Jessica put a finger to her lips, stopping her.  “I’ll start,”  she said.  “I’ll start with why I left Calloway.”  She took a step back.  “One day with you… one day and I fell in love with you all over again.  And I left because I didn’t want you to hurt me again.  I didn’t want to spend a few days with you, being with you, making love with you then have you leave me.  I just couldn’t do it.  So – “

“So you left me instead,” Yuri finished for her.  “At first, I thought it was a payback for twenty years ago.”

“No.  I would never do that to you.  But I thought maybe you’d call, maybe it meant something to you too.”

Yuri motioned out to the deck and Jessica followed her.  The afternoon sun had shifted, offering them shade on the deck.  I fell in love with you all over again.  Was it true?  Could one day together erase the betrayal, the hatred, the anger?

“It did mean something to me,  Yuri admitted.  "That’s why I was so surprised when you left.  I must have read your note a hundred times,” Yuri said.  “That’s why I didn’t call.  Sometimes I’d read it and I thought maybe you wanted me to call.”  She shrugged.  “And other times, it would sound so final.  I didn’t want to contact you if you had no desire to see me,” she said.

“It was stupid of me to leave the note,” Jessica said.  “And then I felt silly for leaving it, presuming you wanted to see me and trying to cut y